page_title: Land speed record
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Land speed record / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Ralph DePalma racing his Packard '905' Special - Daytona Beach, Florida Built in 1918, the car used a modified Packard passenger car chassis, had a Packard 3 speed transmission and electric starter. It was powered by a V-12 engine, 9.9 liter capacity. The car broke a record by posting a 149.875 mph clocking but never attained the 156 mph speed.
context_page_description: The land speed record is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. There is no single body for validation and regulation; in practice the Category C flying start regulations are used, officiated by regional or national organizations under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. The land speed record is standardized as the speed over a course of fixed length, averaged over two runs. Two runs are required in opposite directions within one hour, and a new record mark must exceed the previous one by at least one percent to be validated.
context_section_description: The first regulators were the Automobile Club de France, who proclaimed themselves arbiters of the record in about 1902.
  Until 1903, trains held the land speed record for fastest vehicles in which people could travel.
  Different clubs had different standards and did not always recognize the same world records until 1924, when the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus (AIACR) introduced new regulations: two passes in opposite directions (to negate the effects of wind) averaged with a maximum of 30 minutes (later more) between runs, average gradient of the racing surface not more than 1 percent, timing gear accurate within 0.01sec, and cars must be wheel-driven. National or regional auto clubs (such as AAA and SCTA) had to be AIACR members to ensure records would be recognized. The AIACR became the FIA in 1947. Controversy arose in 1963: Spirit of America was not recognized due to its being a three-wheeler (leading the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme to certify it as a three-wheel motorcycle record when the FIA refused) and not wheel-driven so the FIA introduced a special wheel-driven class. No holder of the absolute record since has been wheel-driven.
  In the U.S. & Australia, record runs are often done on salt flats, so the cars are often called salt cars.
caption: Ralph DePalma in his Packard '905' Special at Daytona Beach in 1919
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